Recently, I was at Target searching through the hair-care aisle for some obscure product my wife sort of needed. Never found it. But I did come across something I did not expect to find in 2011: A bottle of VO5 conditioner.

Had no idea they were still in business.

When I was young, and that was a while ago, VO5 was a ubiquitous brand, all over the television, but I hadn’t seen one of their commercials in years and figured they’d gone extinct like Borders, American Motors and TWA.

This comes to mind because the Big East unofficially has decided to turn itself into the VO5 of major college athletics. Still around, still producing products that someone might to buy, but no longer the vital force it had been for so many years.

Forced into a desperate situation, the Big East has chosen to respond desperately, according to CBS Sports. On Tuesday, the website reported the league would expand to include San Diego State and Boise State in football and Central Florida, Houston and SMU in all sports.

There’s nothing wrong with adding new football members. The Big East’s football brand never has been on par with the entertainment value of its competition. The Big East championship race came down to the final day and concluded with three teams tied for the title. Matt Hayes told you who was going to win the SEC back in June.

The addition of Central Florida, Houston and SMU for all sports is another matter. “All sports” means basketball is included. It can be argued comfortably that UCF’s value to the football league is sufficient, given the average home attendance of 34,283, to warrant acceptance of a developing basketball program that is barely a half-decade removed from membership in the Atlantic Sun.

The Golden Knights haven’t reached the NCAA Tournament as a member of Conference USA, having last visited in 2005 as A-Sun champions. They have four tournament appearances in history. They’ve been under .500 in C-USA play each of the past three years and 53-43 overall.

Houston averaged 31,731 per home football game this season and compiled an 11-1 regular season. And in basketball, the school has had some impressive recruiting success under genial coach James Dickey, which might or might not be connected with impending membership in the Big East.

The Cougars have reached the NCAA Tournament once since 1992, however. A series of dreadful hires during their early years in C-USA, when they were keeping company with current Big Easters Cincinnati and Louisville, left the school disconnected from its rich history -- but at least it’s there, including five Final Four appearances.

SMU? What does SMU offer? It offers mostly empty football stadiums, mostly empty basketball arenas and limited recent achievement in either sport. A third consecutive plus-.500 season and third consecutive minor bowl bid is being viewed as a big deal, which seems plausible since the Mustangs previously hadn’t gotten to a bowl in the post-Death Penalty era. But given that 20,894 on average showed up to view this juggernaut -- officially, anyway -- it doesn’t appear the people of Dallas care all that much about the program’s turnaround.

SMU basketball, tragically, is worse. The program hasn’t earned an NCAA bid since 1993. There are high school teams drawing better than SMU’s current 1,596 per game. The Mustangs never have had a winning record in Conference USA; last year’s .500 mark was their best. Unlike Houston, which has Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney in its past, SMU’s greatest player is probably Jon Koncak. Or maybe Jeryl Sasser. Or Quinton Ross.

There is nothing that suggests SMU can make the Big East better. There’s nothing that suggests SMU has anything at all to offer.

The Big East already is carrying a number of basketball programs buried deep in rebuilding efforts: Providence, DePaul, South Florida, Rutgers, Seton Hall, perhaps even St. John's fits the category. The league is losing three basketball programs over the next few seasons that have made significant contributions to its success: Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia.

Pitt hasn’t missed the NCAA Tournament since 2001. Syracuse won the NCAA title in 2003. West Virginia made a Final Four trip in 2010. And in their place will arrive three basketball programs that either have never been extraordinary or haven’t been for decades.

The Big East brand can’t help but fade given that lack of care. The league might stay in business but gradually will be diminished, perhaps eventually forgotten.